Los Angeles
MySpace mom indicted: A California grand jury last week indicted a Missouri woman for her role in an online hoax that led to the suicide of a 13-year-old girl. Lori Drew, 48, allegedly helped create a false persona on MySpace.com, the social-networking site. Claiming to be 16-year-old “Josh Evans,” Drew and others reportedly sent flirtatious messages to Megan Meier, a former friend of Drew’s daughter. The messages soon became hostile, culminating in a message in which “Josh” said the world would be a better place without Meier. She hanged herself soon afterward. The indictment charges Drew with illegally using MySpace’s servers to commit interstate fraud. Legal experts say prosecutors may have trouble proving their case, because it is based on a legal theory that could criminalize use of false online identities, which are commonplace.
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Washington, D.C.
Child-porn law upheld: The Supreme Court this week voted 7–2 to uphold a law aimed at preventing the distribution of child pornography, including pornography that has been digitally altered to make performers of legal age look like children. The case centered on a provision of a 2003 law that made it illegal to sell pornography that purports to show minors engaged in sex. Critics argued that the restriction violates the First Amendment’s free-speech protections. But seven justices, led by Antonin Scalia, ruled that the First Amendment does not protect offers to buy or sell illegal material—whether or not the material is as advertised, or even exists. Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
Philadelphia
Cops fired: The Philadelphia Police Department this week disciplined eight police officers for their involvement in the beating of three men suspected in a triple shooting that had occurred shortly before the incident. The beating was captured on video by a Philadelphia television station. Four patrol officers were fired, and their sergeant, who was present at the beating and did nothing to stop it, was demoted. Three other officers were suspended. Civil-rights activists praised the action, while police union officials condemned what they called a rush to judgment. The suspects “just shot up a street corner, for God’s sake,” said John McNesby of the Fraternal Order of Police. “It’s not like they were coming back from choir practice.” The tape shows officers furiously kicking and beating the men as they are dragged from their car and handcuffed.
Boston
Kennedy’s grim diagnosis: The political world reacted with shock and prayer this week, when Sen. Ted Kennedy, one of the nation’s most enduring political figures, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat was rushed to a hospital after suffering a seizure at the Kennedy family’s Cape Cod estate. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital say he has a malignant glioma, the most common form of brain tumor, with an average survival rate of one to five years. It is usually treated with chemotherapy and radiation. President Bush was “deeply saddened” by the news, said spokeswoman Dana Perino, and Senate colleagues from both parties praised Kennedy as a “fighter” who could never be counted out. “I’m having a hard time remembering a day in my 34 years here I’ve felt this sadly,” said Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy.
New York City
Fossella bows out: Rep. Vito Fossella of New York said this week he would not seek a seventh term, following an outcry over his arrest three weeks ago in Virginia for drunken driving and his admission that he had fathered a daughter with the woman who bailed him out of jail. Married and the father of three children with his wife, the Republican lawmaker who represents Staten Island ran in 2006 as a “family values” candidate, campaigning on his support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. “I believe this course of action is best for my family and our community,” Fossella said.
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